Goodbye
by BeMyOwnMarvel
Summary: After everything they've been through, how do they let go? Alternate goodbye scene; Bonnie/Jeremy


"You're gonna have to let me go eventually."

Elena reluctantly pulled away from her brother, pulling away from her old life with it. "Be safe, okay?"

"I will," Jeremy replied as he turned to grab his bag. As he approached the door, the sight of his former girlfriend brought a mix of silent surprise and relief to Jeremy.

"Good," Bonnie said. "You didn't leave yet."

"What are you doing here?" After everything that had transpired between them, Jeremy didn't think Bonnie would speak to him again, let alone arrive at his doorstep to bid him farewell. Elena stood nervously behind him, watching Bonnie for any sign that her best friend would reveal what she'd had Damon do to him. As if she knew what was going on in Elena's mind, Bonnie shot her an intense look, increasing Elena's unease, before looking back at Jeremy.

"About what I said earlier, can we just talk for a minute?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. But I have to get going soon if I'm gonna catch my flight."

"This won't take long. There's just something I need you to understand." Bonnie paused and looked behind Jeremy, who followed her line of vision to look at his sister.

"Right, I'll just…um…yeah," Elena mumbled as she turned away and stepped further into the house.

Jeremy followed Bonnie as she sat down on the top step of the porch. "You said earlier that you thought I wouldn't care about you leaving." Bonnie stopped and took a breath, gathering herself. "The thing is, I can't remember much about the relationship my parents had. I can't remember my mom leaving. But I remember every time the topic of my mom came up in the house and the way my dad reacted. He'd just shut down or take his anger with her and his resentment toward her out on me. When you asked me out, when you tried to protect me from the tomb spell, all I could think about was that between my parents, my mom was the witch and my dad was the one who mistakenly fell for her." Jeremy had never seen Bonnie look more vulnerable; she never spoke about her parents, not even to Elena, Caroline, or Matt.

"When it came down to it, it wasn't really about you being Elena's brother. I was scared, Jer. Scared that I'd be like my mom…that I'd hurt you the way she hurt my dad. It never once occurred to me that you'd be the one to hurt me. And then you did." Jeremy looked down as she continued. "What you did with Anna, I get it. I don't like it, and I can't just let it go, but I get it. You got a second chance to be with the girl you really love. And I'd never want to get in the way of you being happy. But I also can't shake the feeling that if you loved her all along, you never should have tried to be with me. It wasn't fair to me or to Anna. It made me feel like I was just some rebound and-"

"Wait, Bonnie. Look, I know what I said about Anna. I did love her; I always will. When she was alive-well, relatively speaking-she understood the guy I was at that time. She was what I needed back then. And I loved her for it. But I was never _in_ love with her. I think, with everything going on the night the ghosts came back, I felt…overwhelmed, desperate. It was like I was getting a second chance to do right by her when I couldn't the first time. But her coming back was never about me. It was about her mother, and I didn't realize that 'til I was in bed the next morning thinking about how badly I'd screwed up the last few nights. But Bonnie, you were never a rebound for me. I'm sorry I ever gave you a reason to think that. And if I could take back what I did to hurt you, I'd do it without thinking twice." Jeremy seemed to have exhausted his words; he couldn't think of any way to let the girl sitting next to him know how much she meant to him without his words sounding hollow. A few moments of silence passed, both wishing that everything that had occurred in the past few months could be miraculously erased from their history.

"I know nothing I say will make everything that's happened okay. And I don't expect anything from you. But do you think there's anyway we could…you know…work past it? Not soon, but…eventually?"

Bonnie paused for a second, seeing before her the boy she fell in love with. "Honest answer? I don't know, Jer. I want to say "Yeah, sure", but-"

"But it's not that easy."

"Yeah."

"Yeah," he repeated.

Bonnie took Jeremy's hand and stood up, pulling him up with her. She turned her face up toward him. "You mean so much to me. After everything we've been through, that won't just go away; I don't think it ever will. It's because I care about you that I want you to move on. Be happy. No matter what you have to do to find a little peace, just do it. Okay?"

Jeremy gazed at Bonnie for a moment. Gripping her hand tighter, he placed a kiss on her forehead as he pulled her into a hug. "As long as you follow your own advice," he said softly into her ear. Bonnie smiled as she pulled away. Hoisting his bag over his shoulder, Jeremy made his way off the porch, turning one last time to look at the girl he was leaving behind. For a second, he wondered why he wanted to leave in the first place. After a moment of hesitance, he turned back and made his way to the car.

Bonnie moved to the doorway and stood there watching Jeremy leave. She wiped away the tear that managed to escape despite her willing herself not to cry. "You can stop hiding now."

Elena emerged from behind the door. "Did you know I was there all along?"

"Did I know you were eavesdropping all along? Yup." Elena stared at Bonnie while her friend's eyes remained trained on the spot where the car was seconds ago.

"I thought you were going to tell him what Damon and I did."

"I never said I was going to tell him. I said you didn't have the right to do it and Jeremy did have the right to choose for himself. But…" Bonnie finally turned to face Elena. "You are his sister after all, and you did have his best interests at heart. That's the only reason I didn't say anything, because family comes first. But I don't think you did the right thing. And there is nothing stopping the original vampire with centuries of experience over us from finding Jeremy and finishing what he started if he wants to. Just because he's gone doesn't mean this is all over for him. It'll never be over for any of us until Klaus is dead." Bonnie's expression was unreadable as she walked away, leaving Elena to wonder what fate she had condemned her brother to.


End file.
